No local stock and Int. Couriers

[Prom]

I just deleted my BidorBuy and Takealot account as this habit of offering products without local stock gets a bit annoying. 

I look in general always for local stock, if it is not totally in a hilarious price range. But when I get 2 weeks, or more, delivery time, I started to cancel the orders right away. I can order from China myself.

As local stock seems to shrink rather fast.. annoyingly.. I thought I write a few lines to import.. as when you go look outside, you can choose from several options of the same product and not just one they offer in SA.

With any order the payment process offers a shipping note to add. To make things way more speedy, add your SA ID and your contact phone number there and add the comment For private use, not retail! Will go through customs rather without hassle and the courier has your direct contact, if the China trader messed that part up.

I never ever had any Credit Card issues with a Chinese company/trader.. and I ordered quite a lot from that area. Hobbyking, Alibaba, Aliexpress.. zero troubles, is more complicated to chat with the translated Chinese.. but i always got what I ordered. Don't forget the tell them at the end to please make the customs bill to the % you like it to be.. I take in general 50% to 80% off.. less customs.. they grab shameful amounts  charging 50% import tax.. is just asking to get cheated on.

That brings me to the list of couriers I can recommend.. but don't get me wrong, they are not perfect but... with the added information in the shipment, those works the smoothest (might swap due to local crew incompetence ^^) Cape Town area I rank em like that:

1 DHL

2 UPS

3 Aramex

.. there is a gap.. Fedex is very incompetent handling anything, contacts to payments

4 Fedex

another gap.. nothing is even close as bad as post office.. i wouldn't even call that a mail service anymore

5 EMS (Post Office)

DHL and UPS have working invoice systems in place for CC payment, great contact and fast. Aramex i put before Fedex as their computer system at least works. Fedex is great till it hits SA.. they don't check for payments or even try to contact you. Additional their phone system is very unstable and you need several calls. They are never over worked (fast response) but your line gets cut in general when they want to forward you. Not one try they succeeded.. I had to call in a few times. So Fedex only if you want to endure the full load. EMS with Post Office termination is not really an option, except you have a lot of time to wait, my record, got a parcel after 8 months of shipping.. and lost quite some parcels too, avoid EMS. 

The good news.. if you import yourself, you get your stuff the cheapest possible. I always say support local.. but then again.. if you order yourself and not over a SA third person, will be faster and cheaper. If I get my stuff within 5 days.. I take it local.. anything else, cancel, I order myself. BidorBuy account I closed as I made 3 orders, and only growguru.co.za had local stock, rest wanted to let me wait 20+ days. When I went shopping for the same product outside, I got double the amount of the product and on express shipping.. so faster.. 5-7 days (in this case 5m RAW rolling paper, 48 of them ^^, not even a dollar a piece, 730R for the papers, going to my planetexpress storage.. I order more stuff to reduce shipping cost ^^).

If you run into products "they" don't send to SA.. you can always get a warehouse or shipping service to work around. You have those issues more in US/Europe.. China/Hong Kong ships to SA ^^

For the USA/Europe www.planetexpress.com works very nice (you can't repack seeds!! keep that in mind) rest, you can collect also parcels for 45 days and ship in one parcel.. less shipping fees, pays back rather fast, if you have a few things to order. This premium service is 50$ a year or you can also just take it for one big batch and take the service just for a month. With the saved shipping fees.. always pays back. Just for one parcel.. is just a little additional cost but you get your stuff shipped to SA, have 2 parcels combined and the fee for planetexpress is paid and you saved some. Just select the warehouse depending where you need it. California for the US and UK for Europe.

 

If people run local stock.. i will always order there first (as mentioned.. if the price is reasonable) but I am not supporting people just doing the order them self and add 100-200% on top.. i hate wasting my money ^^ If you stick a bit to the same courier.. you have the numbers and websites you need bookmarked, importing yourself as a private person isn't as complicated and frustrating as most think. Just think ahead and put the information needed on the shipping yourself. If nobody needs to contact you, you will be amazed how fast it can go. US or China to SA.. DHL or UPS does it in 5 - 7 days and not a month like those order "reheaters" offer for more expensive in general.

Support people running local stock.. rest be smart. Hope it helped somebody 

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by Prom
typos.. has many more ;)

[CoolJ]

Thanks man, wish I had some of this knowledge before I ordered an 240w QB from Alibaba and used FedEx. The packaged arrived within 5days but took 3 weeks for FedEx to clear it with customs after numerous calls and phone calls being cut(just like you mentioned) 

The customs fees tip is a good one. I asked for my fee to be made less luckily so the 50% charge wasn't too bad considering what it could of be. 

 

[CreX]

Sweet write up @Prom!

Thank you for this, you really did put it all together very nicely

[Prom]

54 minutes ago, CoolJ said:

Thanks man, wish I had some of this knowledge before I ordered an 240w QB from Alibaba and used FedEx. The packaged arrived within 5days but took 3 weeks for FedEx to clear it with customs after numerous calls and phone calls being cut(just like you mentioned) 

The customs fees tip is a good one. I asked for my fee to be made less luckily so the 50% charge wasn't too bad considering what it could of be. 

 

Fedex is a total face palm..  you  call in for the invoice.. DHL just send me that by them self, containing the EFT information or link for electronic CC payment. Anyhow.. Fedex.. then you call in again as you want to pay by card. As in the payment confirmation was Ref for Fedex, the tracking number. I expected this to be a automated process. I was wrong.. after a complain 4 days after my payment, they decided to say thank you for the payment. Tracker didn't move for another 72 hours.. on a Express Parcel  I stick to DHL and UPS.. and in emergencies Aramex.. but Fedex SA is like Post Office  OK, not the same same.. but they try very hard to reach that low level.

Edited October 2, 2020 by Prom

[CoolJ]

6 minutes ago, Prom said:

Fedex is a total face palm..  you  call in for the invoice.. DHL just send me that by them self, containing the EFT information or link for electronic CC payment. Anyhow.. Fedex.. then you call in again as you want to pay by card. As in the payment confirmation was Ref for Fedex, the tracking number. I expected this to be a automated process. I was wrong.. after a complain 4 days after my payment, they decided to say thank you for the payment. Tracker didn't move for another 72 hours.. on a Express Parcel  I stick to DHL and UPS.. and in emergencies Aramex.. but Fedex SA is like Post Office  OK, not the same same.. but they try very hard to reach that low level.

I was bleak paying almost the same price as the light for express shipping and it gets here in 5days then have to wait 3weeks before its in my hands

 

[SkunkPharm]

I just shipped with UPS and stock was here in 7 days. Including clearing by customs.

[Fridge]

Lot's and lot's of valuable information @Prom. Thank you for sharing!

[Prom]

lets also add.. it is worth to look elsewhere, if the trader doesnt offer one of the top three couriers. If i looked for hours and find nobody else, i would even use Fedex.. but really just when there is no other option.